Timex Sinclair was a joint venture between the British company Sinclair Research and Timex Corporation in an effort to gain an entry into the rapidly-growing early-1980s home computer market in the United States. The choice of partnership was natural; Timex was already the main contractor for manufacture of Sinclair's ZX81 and ZX Spectrum computers at its Scottish plant in Dundee.

They released four computers, all of them based (to some extent) on Sinclair Research's existing machines:-

• The TS 1000, essentially a modified ZX81 with 2KB RAM
• The TS 1500, a TS 1000 with 16KB RAM and a Spectrum-like case and keyboard
• The TS 2048, very similar to the basic Spectrum, but with Kempston-compatible joystick interfaces built-in. Not sold in the US.
• The TS 2068, a Spectrum-based machine with major enhancements which unfortunately resulted in poor compatibility with the original.

Overall, the machines were nowhere near as successful as their UK progenitors; in contrast with the Spectrum which was the best-selling computer in Britain at the time, the TS 2068 was a relative failure. Timex Corporation withdrew from the home computer market in late-1983.

Timex of Portugal later continued to manufacture hardware including:

• TS1000 boards
• The Timex Computer 2068 (TC2068), a modified TS2068 featuring improved compatibility with the ZX Spectrum, and
• The Timex Computer 2048, a cut down version of the TS2068

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@stevex I recently helped a former co-worker move and he had an old Amiga, Atari ST and yes even a Timex Sinclair. It was like a museum :)
swerve99 (Murvin George) Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:38:25 -0000
@stevex I recently helped a former co-worker move and he had an old Amiga, Atari ST and yes even a Timex Sinclair. It was like a museum :)

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